On 24 April 2018, the European Commission (Commission) fined Altice NV (Altice) €124.5m for breaching both Article 4(1) and 7(1) of Council Regulation (EC) No 139/2004 (the EU Merger Regulation or EUMR). Article 4(1) EUMR contains the “notification requirement” under which relevant transactions must be notified to the Commission by way of a formal notification. Article 7(1) EUMR contains the “stand-still obligation” which obliges parties to withhold from completing a relevant transaction before it has been notified and approved by the Commission. Background
The fine relates to Altice’s acquisition of PT Portugal S.A. (PT) (now Altice Portugal). Following the Portuguese Government’s divestment (after having been investigated for illegal state aid for its golden shares in PT), PT was acquired